I'll try and update each day for the next month the various strategy summaries for your contemplation. This really is an amazing book...like a modern 'Art of War'.

you might read the entries over the next month, and think some sound harsh and non-compassionate....but realize raw war is not compassion, it's either you live or they live.

This is also not a political subliminal message supporting or denouncing war. nor does this address the alternatives to war. It's just war as war is. war is an unforgiving reality in human history, in our parents time, and in our time...whether nations fight, people fight, or each fight our own selves - successful conflict resolution takes strategy.

whether you read these as personal tactics, battlefield tactics, or national tactics - at various levels, it's still strategies of raw war.

Life is an endless battle and conflict, and you cannot fight effectively unless you can identify your enemies. Learn to smoke out your enemies, to spot them by the signs and patterns that reveal hostility. Then, once you have them in your sights, inwardly declare war. Your enemies can fill you with purpose and direction.

What often weighs you down and brings misery is the past. You must consciously wage war against the past and force yourself to react to the present moment. Be ruthless on yourself; do not repeat the same tired methods. Wage guerrila war on your mind, allowing no staic lines of defense--make everything fluid and mobile.

3. AMIDST THE TURMOIL OF EVENTS, DO NOT LOSE YOUR PRESENCE OF MIND: THE COUNTERBALANCE STRATEGY

In the heat of battle, the mind tends to lose it's balance. It is vital to keep your presence of mind, maintaining your mental powers, whatever the circumstances. Make the mind tougher by exposing it to adversity. Learn to detach yourself from the chaos of the battlefield.

In the heat of battle, the mind tends to lose it's balance. It is vital to keep your presence of mind, maintaining your mental powers, whatever the circumstances. Make the mind tougher by exposing it to adversity. Learn to detach yourself from the chaos of the battlefield.

There are numerous examples in Roman sources depicting this very strategy in action.

Caesar offers his own version of this, citing bad leadership as equivalent to showing raw emotion in battle.

It is his ability to remain focused that allowed Caesar to manipulate a changing battle to his favor, such as the case when the 9th Legion was faltering, Caesar himself took command, standing among the legionaries and with a calm head giving orders to his troops. The former commander of the Legion let his emotions carry him to a foolhearty charge and early demise.

Sources on the 2nd Punic War recount the same. Hannibal frequently egged on Roman consuls into foolish attacks, bad ground, etc on more than one occasion.

These leaders are often scolded in literary sources for their brashness and use of emotion in battle.

Applied to MA it's the same principle. The calmer and more focused you are, the fewer mistakes and the more adaptability you maintain.

This applies to all levels of the military, from the legionary, to the centurions, to the consuls.

The main complaint about Alexander's Armies were that they were completely useless without Alexander himself on the front lines. The army did not operate without his calm and collected presence, as seen by the sections of his army that faltered in battle (any component not directly under his control essentially).

Quote:2. DO NOT FIGHT THE LAST WAR: THE GUERRILLA-WAR-OF-THE-MIND STRATEGY

What often weighs you down and brings misery is the past. You must consciously wage war against the past and force yourself to react to the present moment. Be ruthless on yourself; do not repeat the same tired methods. Wage guerrila war on your mind, allowing no staic lines of defense--make everything fluid and mobile.

Again, sources abundant in the Roman tradition of warfare.

The breakdown of the legion itself allows an enormous amount of mobility and adaptability, with each cohort led by a centurion and other NCO's.

It was also the fluid motion of Caesar's battle plans that allowed him to be victorious on several battles where he was outnumbered, surrounded, and the underdog.

Originally he started his battles reflecting the Marian style, wait on a hill, throw javelins at army, charge down hill and squash the enemy.

Caesar reiterates this experience in his work "The Conquest of Gaul". For one battle he mimicked the Marian tactic, won his battle, and vowed never to fight that way ever again....and he never did.

The one area where Caesar remained static cost him dearly against Pompey.

Caesar was renowned for always building ramparts and fortifications wherever he made battle. His earthwork style of fighting was a real decisive factor in his conquest of Gaul, seen in numerous battles.

But he never had the need to adapt this style or change it ever.

At Dyrrhachium, Pompey knew EXACTLY what Caesar planned to do, and the battle started as simply a contest to see who was the better earthenworks builder.

Turned out to be Pompey, and Caesar came very close to having his entire army annihilated and himself captured or killed.